200 New Laws in NYS go into effect today
As I purged the list of new laws, just what we need, one new law hit me in particular as it brings back a case I wrote about in April 2010. The new law is:
Sex Offense Victim Polygraph (HB 5931/PA 96‐1273): Prohibits law enforcement from even asking a sex offense victim to submit to a lie detector test.
The case if you may recall was that of William McCaffrey who was convicted of rape and kidnapping Biurny Peguero. Here is an excerpt from The Exoneration Initiative article:
"McCaffrey's exoneration of kidnapping and rape charges and the vacatur of his 20 year sentence generated substantial interest from television, print, radio and online mediums, which included an appearance by McCaffrey and Glenn Garber on the ABC news show, 20/20. The attention focused primarily on the compelling nature of the alleged victim's recantation. Biurny Peguero confessed to a priest that her detailed incriminating testimony at trial was a complete fabrication. Peguero then pled guilty to perjury and was sentenced to one to three years in prison. The McCaffrey case reinforces one of the main lessons learned from the innocence movement: witnesses lie and juries are not the failsafe finders of fact that the criminal justice system touts them to be."
Under this new law, once a person such as Peguero, is named an alleged "victim" then they are protected from one of the tools used to determine credibility. Although polygraph is inadmissible in court, it is often used by both the prosecution and defense as a measure of proof toward or away from credibility or deception. Prohibiting law enforcement from even asking a victim to submit to polygraph is another step that allows the prosecution not to question the credibility or possible motive of their alleged victim...a sort of don't ask, don't tell. Had Peguero not confessed and remained a victim under her own lies, an innocent man, like William McCaffrey, might likely still be in prison as a truly innocent man. I'm just not sure I understand exactly why we make such laws that can divert justice from being discovered. If you research sex cases in general, you find that victim credibility is seldom questioned or investigated. The question that comes to most people's minds is "why would anyone accuse someone of something that didn't happen?". Unfortunately it happens too often and victim protection sometimes masks the real truth. The other factor in most sex cases is there are no witnesses; it's the word of the victim against their alleged assailant. In the case of rape or non-consensual sex, DNA often exists and is often not denied, but the act of "consent" is at question. How does one physically examine or investigate to prove or disprove a "verbal" description of what happened between two people? The power of the words "non" or "forced" are debilitating words when heard, but cannot be physically or forensically proven if no other supporting evidence exists. Yet these simple words, backed by no other evidence, seems to always be enough in a jury's mind to convict and send a possibly innocent man to prison; throwing any lawful "reasonable doubt" right out the window. A fine line that many think could never happen to them. What scares me to death is that "words alone and without physical evidence" is enough to convict anybody of being a sex offender. Perhaps that is why we have over 750,000 people on sex offender registries in the US, with the youngest I've read about being only 14 years old. What would be your defense if your date, your girlfriend or even your wife accused you of non-consensual or forced sex, otherwise known as rape? Think you could talk your way out of it if she was very convincing about what she said happened? Likely not. What can you do? Get a good lawyer and pray!
The 20/20 Story: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/woman-falsely-accuses-man-rape-10463905
Sex Offense Victim Polygraph (HB 5931/PA 96‐1273): Prohibits law enforcement from even asking a sex offense victim to submit to a lie detector test.
The case if you may recall was that of William McCaffrey who was convicted of rape and kidnapping Biurny Peguero. Here is an excerpt from The Exoneration Initiative article:
"McCaffrey's exoneration of kidnapping and rape charges and the vacatur of his 20 year sentence generated substantial interest from television, print, radio and online mediums, which included an appearance by McCaffrey and Glenn Garber on the ABC news show, 20/20. The attention focused primarily on the compelling nature of the alleged victim's recantation. Biurny Peguero confessed to a priest that her detailed incriminating testimony at trial was a complete fabrication. Peguero then pled guilty to perjury and was sentenced to one to three years in prison. The McCaffrey case reinforces one of the main lessons learned from the innocence movement: witnesses lie and juries are not the failsafe finders of fact that the criminal justice system touts them to be."
Under this new law, once a person such as Peguero, is named an alleged "victim" then they are protected from one of the tools used to determine credibility. Although polygraph is inadmissible in court, it is often used by both the prosecution and defense as a measure of proof toward or away from credibility or deception. Prohibiting law enforcement from even asking a victim to submit to polygraph is another step that allows the prosecution not to question the credibility or possible motive of their alleged victim...a sort of don't ask, don't tell. Had Peguero not confessed and remained a victim under her own lies, an innocent man, like William McCaffrey, might likely still be in prison as a truly innocent man. I'm just not sure I understand exactly why we make such laws that can divert justice from being discovered. If you research sex cases in general, you find that victim credibility is seldom questioned or investigated. The question that comes to most people's minds is "why would anyone accuse someone of something that didn't happen?". Unfortunately it happens too often and victim protection sometimes masks the real truth. The other factor in most sex cases is there are no witnesses; it's the word of the victim against their alleged assailant. In the case of rape or non-consensual sex, DNA often exists and is often not denied, but the act of "consent" is at question. How does one physically examine or investigate to prove or disprove a "verbal" description of what happened between two people? The power of the words "non" or "forced" are debilitating words when heard, but cannot be physically or forensically proven if no other supporting evidence exists. Yet these simple words, backed by no other evidence, seems to always be enough in a jury's mind to convict and send a possibly innocent man to prison; throwing any lawful "reasonable doubt" right out the window. A fine line that many think could never happen to them. What scares me to death is that "words alone and without physical evidence" is enough to convict anybody of being a sex offender. Perhaps that is why we have over 750,000 people on sex offender registries in the US, with the youngest I've read about being only 14 years old. What would be your defense if your date, your girlfriend or even your wife accused you of non-consensual or forced sex, otherwise known as rape? Think you could talk your way out of it if she was very convincing about what she said happened? Likely not. What can you do? Get a good lawyer and pray!
The 20/20 Story: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/woman-falsely-accuses-man-rape-10463905
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